All of Europe is Rick's cafe / Steves, the popular guidebook author and PBS host, opens the Continent's 'back doors' in a new weekly column

Rick Steves. Illustration by Francisco Caceres, special to the Chronicle

Rick Steves. Illustration by Francisco Caceres, special to the Chronicle

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Rick Steves. Illustration by Francisco Caceres, special to the Chronicle

Rick Steves. Illustration by Francisco Caceres, special to the Chronicle

All of Europe is Rick's cafe / Steves, the popular guidebook author and PBS host, opens the Continent's 'back doors' in a new weekly column

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Not long ago a colleague told me she was headed to Italy for the first time. "I'm just hitting all the usual places," she said, "Rome, Venice, Florence and Cinque Terre."

I smiled because Cinque Terre, a chain of impossibly beguiling cliffside fishing villages, was never part of the classic Victorian grand tour. It's one of the (formerly) unheralded corners of Europe popularized by guidebook author and PBS host Rick Steves. Everyone goes there now, but his readers had it to themselves for years before word got out.

Steves, who spends 100 days a year on the Continent updating his books and filming, will lead Chronicle Travel readers through more of what he calls Europe's "back doors" in a new weekly column beginning today.

Traveling in Europe the way Europeans do it is his specialty -- high on personal interaction, low on cost.

We're starting today with a Rick Steves marathon à la PBS, printing three columns back to back to back, beginning on Page G4. Enjoy.